Stand By Me
by DedicatedWallflower
Summary: Looking back, I guess I realize all I ever wanted was for someone to be with me. All I wanted was someone to stay with me through everything. I realize that all I've ever wanted was someone to stand by me. -When everything Katniss Everdeen has is ripped away, will Marvel be the one to stand by her, or will he be ripped away as well- Karvel Modern Day. Will convert you to Karvel.
1. Chapter 1

**So hey guys, I realize there aren't many Karvel stories out there, and after getting such great feedback for the Karvel in The Final Piece, I've decided to write the first modern day Karvel… I'm making a breakthrough people. Starting a new trend.**

**I'm not sure yet what this will turn out to be, I haven't really gotten a great road map yet.**

**This really is just a tester chapter, if I get good feedback on it, great I'll continue it.**

**I just think they would be so perfect together, I really don't know why, but I do! I have to say this will be a little out of my comfort zone; I'm a really hardcore Kato shipper!**

**So let's just see how this turns out shall we?**

**Feel free to tell me how you feel as long as it's constructive. I won't take it too personally if it isn't.**

**My motto is keep it kind. If you wouldn't say it to your grandmamma don't say it to me!**

**Love to All,**

**Dedicated**

Looking back, I guess I realize all I ever wanted was for someone to be with me. All I wanted was someone to stay with me through everything. I realize that all I've ever wanted was someone to stand by me.

. . .

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. My mind counts with the firing of the rifles, I barely make it to ten before collapsing into Peeta's arms. It's over, it's all over. He's gone and there's no coming back.

No more waiting for the letters to arrive, or waiting patiently at the airport for him to come off the plane smiling his big smile.

I'm alone now, left to my own devices in a world where I'm invisible.

Gale's gone.

People hug me, people say sorry, no one understands. If I didn't know better I would say a good fourth of the people here are only here for the refreshments.

I thought he was crazy when he joined, but he promised me he would be safe. He promised me he would always come home.

He made it three years and one hundred and forty four days before the bomb killed him.

He was the last family I had, the only person left to stand by me.

I look out at the crowd of people; everyone seems to blur together, the dark colors of the blackened clothes mush in my vision. I still clutch the flag to my stomach, afraid to let it go.

Haymitch stumbles into my line of sight, tipping back the flask of alcohol taking another drink of the putrid substance.

"Twenty bucks he passes out in the next ten minutes" I jump at the deep voice behind me, startled out of my oblivion of thoughts.

Turning, I see the mysterious speaker, his dark hair strangely resembles Gale's and his green eyes pierce my soul. That's when I see the dog tags around his neck, he's a military man.

"Marvel Young, I" he pauses for a second; probably trying to think of the right words to say "I had the pleasure of working with Gale" he offers me a small smile.

"Katniss Everdeen" I whisper, extending my hand shakily. The tears have made my voice thick, and send trembles through my body in small spasms.

"Oh I know that, I'm pretty sure our whole unit knows who you are" he gives me a soft chuckle and smirk "You were all he talked about, it was Katniss this, Katniss that, did you see the letter Katniss sent, have you seen my picture of Katniss, isn't she beautiful. I wouldn't be surprised if we know things about you yourself don't know" his green eyes fill with the excitement of humor and my heart beats a little faster knowing that Gale thought about me while he was fighting.

"Thank you" I whisper quietly, looking to the ground.

"You owe me twenty" he jokes and I look up just in time to see Haymitch falling to the ground next to the punch bowl.

"We never shook on it" I smirk slyly.

"I guess you're right. I have to go, but you know if you ever need anything, I'm always here" he cracks another smile before sauntering off to cause people trouble somewhere else.

"Katniss" A small voice calls out and I whirl around to find Annie standing before me.

Her red hair has been piled into a messy side bun and tears run down her face.

"I'm so sorry Katniss" she whispers, pulling me into a hug only Annie Cresta could give.

"Hey, I'm ok" I try to give her a convincing smile, but judging by the look on Finnick's face I'm failing miserably.

"Of course you are, you're always ok" she nods furiously. She sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than comfort me.

"An, leave her alone. We all know Kitty Kat can cope on her own" Finnick gives me a reassuring grin, but it breaks as he leans down to hug me. Gale and Finn were best friends since they could walk, it must be just as hard for him.

"Thanks Finn" I whisper in his ear, burying my face in his chest.

"You're welcome Kat" he smiles softly, giving me another awkward pat.

"Thanks for stopping by" I whisper, looking to the floor. There have been so many memories here, so many laughs and so many smiles.

I was standing in this exact spot when Gale surprised me the first time.

I can still remember his smile, the bouquet of flowers in his hands, the happy tears we both cried.

_The house feels so empty without him, like it's not really a home, just another building with no soul._

_Usually we'd be outside, walking through the woods on a good Sunday like this, but I don't go to the woods without him._

_He would say I was a chicken, but the truth is, it hurts too much. _

_I walk down the steps, looking at the faded pictures of memories and good times past. _

_These are the moments I miss him more than ever. _

_It's almost as if the house holds his smell within it. I can smell the deep musk of the woods and the expensive cologne I bought him before he left._

_Suddenly hands wrap around my waist, startled I cry out. A familiar laugh rumbles through the house and I almost fall down the stairs in my excitement, he's back._

"_Surprise" he whispers in my ear as I turn to kiss him._

I let out a long sigh and a smile; as long as I'm here he's going to haunt me. I decide right here and now that I have to leave. I need to find myself again, I need to get over him.

**Hmm… I'm not sure how I liked that, but if I get good feedback I will definitely write it over and change the things I don't like!**

**So please review and tell me how you liked it, I will be waiting patiently for them!**

**If you didn't catch it, Marvel and her will have a romance, but it will develop not happen.**

**Love to All,**

**Dedicated**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, I guess this story is a go. **

**I am so blessed to have each and every one of you as my readers and reviewers. **

**I will have you all converted to Karvel before this story ends.**

**So I made a biiiiiiiggggg mistake last chapter. I was like wow no one caught it.**

**I said she falls into Gale's arms… that was supposed to say Peeta's arms. It is fixed now and it will no longer be a confusing mistake.**

**HMMMM…. I WANT TO KNOW HOW OLD YALL THINK I AM… I WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY WRITING LEVEL IS AT AND IM TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT.**

**If you tell me what you think in your review THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE READ TFP, YOU WILL KNOW BETTER Peeta will make you a cookie with pretty frosting, or in my case a gluten free scone, whichever you prefer.**

**I will update daily, with shorter chapters about 1500 in length. This is not because I am a terrible writer, this is because I have an hour to write, and that is what I can produce happily in an hour.**

**Completely AWKWARD Shout-outs:**

Bellanator116- Aw well thank you, I'm sorry I made you cry, that's not good! Your wish came true, as of now this story is on my official to do update list.

TheHungerGamesFan11- Aww, well by the end of this you will be a hardcore shipper of Karvel.

Shadesofblue14- Well thank you, that was very kind of you to say!

honeynutmaryse- Thank you so much, your reviews never seem to disappoint. You are too kind my friend, too kind.

MaidenAlice- Thank you so much for your continued support, it is awesome to know I have readers like you out there.

centerstagex11- thank you so much! You are too kind to say that!

abugsaunt- Your wish is my command

peetamellark7475- Thank you so much! Keep reading!

_Two Weeks Later_

I toss the last suitcase into the back of my old beat up red jeep. The sun sinking low to the ground casts shadows over the old house in front of me giving it an eerily dark aura.

We bought it the day he got out of college, he proposed right on the doorstep.

With Gale gone there's nothing left for me here. McPherson's a small town; I need to get out of it. It's suffocating me slowly. There are too many memories here, to many reminders of him. They are a constant around me, a constant that needs to disappear.

I walk up the steps one last time, running my hands over the peeling railing to the front door.

Pulling his old jacket around my shoulders tighter I wipe a stray tear off the bridge of my nose. Crying won't bring him back, nothing will, which is mainly why I have to get away.

I don't really have a plan for the drive yet, I guess just go where the wind blows me for now.

Twisting the key into the lock, I lock the door for the last time, saying goodbye to the only place I know as home.

I walk back to my jeep, my heart races at 100 miles per hour. I'm leaving, leaving all the horrible memories, and all the good ones I had with Gale. I'm losing every part of me the moment I cross county line.

My hands slowly open the rusted door, my fingers caressing the old rusted edges of the door handle as I slide into the driver's seat.

Just as I'm about to shut the door behind me, a strangled yell startles me into oblivion.

"Katniss wait, damn it don't you shut that door" I look up to see Marvel running across the lawn with a bag in his hands.

"What the hell are you doing" my voice reaches new octaves as he tosses the duffel into the trunk.

"I thought you could use some company" he grins "and since my company is you know, rather marvelous, I decided to come" his voice is full of the arrogance I used to hate in my mother.

"What makes you think I want to drag your ass all over the country" I hiss, looking with boredom out the window.

"Well I have a whole list, would you like to start driving while I start reading them?" he smirks, but I don't start the car.

"Fine, you need a good reason, here's one. Peeta and Finnick are worried you're going to do something stupid, but since Delly is pregnant and Annie is you know Annie they can't go chasing you around America" his words stop my thoughts in a train wreck collision.

"I am nothing like my father" I growl, starting the car. My anger seems to cover the car with a strange foggy haze.

"Woah, no one said anything about your father" Marvel's voice has lost its edge, it's more reserved now, like he's trying not to set me off.

"Just tell me why they sent you" the house disappears behind me as I drive faster and faster away from my dreams.

"They can't come so they sent someone Gale trusted" he sighs, looking over at me with a soft frown "I can pay for my own stuff, drive when you need me too, be a good listener" he starts ticking things off and I zone out, focused on the road in front of me.

The sign that signifies the county line swirls into my view and I give it a small smile. Just like that every chain that ever held me back is set free, the darkness of my past sifts in with the light of my future, and for the first time since Gale left, I'm smiling bigger than a grin.

. . .

As we drive, I learn to things about Marvel:

One: He never shuts up.

Two: He really loves himself.

More than once I find myself dozing off to one of his stories about being on the frontlines of the fighting, and saving children's lives.

When I finally can't drive any longer, I pull over in the parking lot of an old motel, the sign is blinking, and the sign that says vacancy's 'y' is missing. Great, just my luck to stop at a dump.

That's when I notice how eerily silent the jeep is, the warm air from outside and the crickets add to the ominous aura floating through the air.

I look over to Marvel, and what I see surprises me more than anything I've seen.

**Alright, so it's like really late where I am and I cannot find it in me to finish. I just wanted to post this as another trial chapter. If it does as good as the last one, great. Daily updates, if it doesn't, I don't know how I will do updates.**

**Reading the AN above will really really benefit you in this situation!**

**So next chapter will make up for the word count missing in this chapter. I apologize; I am being somewhat lazy tonight. I am running on four hours of sleep though so yeah.**

I felt a tad evil writing this, there is so much back ground that you do not know about Katniss, not to worry my friends it will be revealed in time.

IF YOU WANT A 300 WORD PREVIEW REVIEW AND TELL ME SO.

So in REVIEW:

My age? What do ya think it is?

Where is McPherson? 

What is was the mistake I made last chapter?

If you get any two of these right I will let you pick a number four through eight, this will determine something VERY important to this story: but you don't know what it is!

Love to all,

Dedicated


	3. Chapter 3

**I just cannot focus so this is a sneak peak, please do not judge it… I write like how I feel so if it is horrid blame the day not me. Just kidding you can blame me for it!**

His face is riddled with the effects of a gnarly nightmare, I can see it in the way his lip curls down and his body shakes in fear.

I contemplate leaving him; I've woken Gale up from a nightmare or two. It's never a good wake up.

Gale used to jump up, thrashing around in the bed waving an invisible knife at me. He always felt bad and apologized. I can still feel the way his hands would massage my back in gentle circles and the way his finger would delicately trace out 'I love you' between my shoulder blades.

He never meant to scare me; he only wanted to protect me. It was the little things like walking on the side of the sidewalk closest to the street or following me to the bathroom in the middle of the night because he was afraid some bad guy was going to grab me in our bathroom. He was so afraid that one day I was just going to disappear like everyone else did.

Something gets me to tap Marvel; it's almost against my will as I lean over and give him a small shove on the arm. He doesn't wake up and I find myself hitting him again and again with more and more intensity each time.

"Marvel, Marvel wake up." I hiss. He starts awake, sitting up inhumanely quickly before he hops out of the jeep like nothing even happened.

I look at him quizzically but say nothing of it, Gale never liked talking about his nightmares and I doubt Marvel is any different.

"This where we're staying?" he moans sleepily as he stretches out, yawning as he looks up at me expectantly.

"Yeah, not much of a place to stay is it?" I joke trying to lighten the mood in my mind. He grins lopsidedly at me before grabbing the duffel out of the back of the jeep, tossing me my own small bag.

"It's an adventure princess, embrace it." he remarks snidely, dodging a small pebble I lob at him. I am no princess.

"Damn you Marvel." I groan, walking quickly across the cracked parking lot to catch up to him.

The musty air of the hotel lobby hits me like a train and I nearly gag on the stench of old mothballs and long overdue trash.

"God." I hear Marvel whisper under his breath as he looks around the dirty place. I'm pretty sure the place hasn't had a good deep clean in at least the past two decades.

"Who dere?" a man's scruffy voice calls out from a tiny 'office' in the back. Judging by the size I would say it was meant to be a janitorial closet.

He comes out and I wish I could reverse time, go back out and keep driving straight by this place altogether.

By the looks of it the older man is half drunk and high of some sort of drug. He's deathly skinny and his eyes are hollow like some sort of monster you see on Halloween. Instinctively I take a step behind Marvel forcing him in front of me.

"Hey—" he takes a moment to look at the name badge on the man's chest "Rick, we'd like a room, preferably a clean one with no bed bugs." he smirks sarcastically.

'Rick' doesn't get his humor and nods slightly, fumbling through a set of keys until he finds a nice one, handing it to us without any further words and loping back into his office.

"Doesn't he need our information or something?" I whisper to Marvel as soon as Rick is out of earshot.

"Just keep walking Katniss." he whispers back, dragging me along out of the lobby and past the elevator.

"That was the elevator" I hiss trying to drag him back to the hallway where the elevator sits vacant.

"Rule number one in sketchy hotels, never trust the elevators" Marvel rattles off taking me to the stairs. My night just keeps getting better and better: first a dump for a hotel and then walking up three flights of stairs. God help me.

We get to 3B and just as I expected dust covers every surface.

"Marvel, it's filthy" I hiss at him as if he's going to magically change the way everything looks.

"Suck it up princess, it's only for a night." he throws his bag down on the bed, his eyes widening as we both realize the same thing at the same time.

"Oh God." I whisper, my hand covering my mouth.

**Ok, so I sat down to do this and I just wasn't feeling it. This is a longish sneak peek of the next chapter. I will make up for it I promise you that.**

**I am so sorry for the long delay; you know how I hate making you all wait. I've been so busy lately and I miss you guys!**

**So if you would be so kind as to leave a review… how are you? Tell me how you are doing AND which story you want me to update tomorrow…**

**Together We Stand**

**Or**

**Walk with Me.**

**As Always, Love to All,**

**Dedicated**


	4. Chapter 4

This story is now on hold until Christmas of 2012.

Thank you for your patience. Feel free to PM me with questions and please check out my other stories! I would love to hear any feedback on any one of them!

Love to All,

Dedicated


	5. Chapter 5

**This story is now pending discontinuation; feel free to give me your opinion by review or PM.**

**If I do continue, the update date stands.**

**Love to All,**

**Dedicated**


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